Store phone's redial leads to man's arrest

Jul. 2, 2013

Written by

the Associated Press

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — Police say a suspect’s phone call from a convenience store telephone helped them to charge him with stealing $142 worth of change from the business.

The Altoona Mirror reports 32-year-old Jason Comer, of Pittsburgh, has been charged with theft Saturday afternoon at a Sheetz store in Logan Township. That’s near Altoona, about 85 miles east of Pittsburgh.

A clerk told police that a man asked to use the phone because he was out of gas before grabbing a change dispenser attached to the store’s cash registers. Police used the phone’s redial button and the woman who answered the call told the officer that Comer had just called her.

Police also identified Comer from surveillance video and found him nearby, waiting for a tow truck.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for Comer who remained jailed Tuesday.